Toodyay Herald

Each of the three practitioners sees up to 40 patients a day, and hundreds every week.
The medical centre also provides physiotherapy services to up to 20 patients a week, and dozens of Clinipath Pathology blood and other tests for illnesses such as cancer and other infections.

The not-for-profit business employs one nurse and two reception staff who will get an option to move to the network’s ‘Super Clinic’ in Northam by the end of November.

Toodyay’s GP service has operated rent-free for the past 10 years at the Alma Beard Medical Centre in Stirling Terrace, which is owned by Toodyay ratepayers.

The shire first realised last May that the centre might close when the Network declined to sign a contract for a new lease after operating on a month-by-month basis when a previous lease expired in 2017.

There has been a high turnover of Toodyay doctors in recent years, with some reportedly leaving after disputes with management.

Wheatbelt Health Network CEO Catherine Milliner – who took over in August last year – said running the centre “has become even harder as a result of reducing incentives for doctors to work in regional areas and the increased cost of living and wages with no corresponding increase in the Medicare rebate”.

The Federal Government pays a rebate to subsidise the cost of GP services, some of which are bulk-billed at no cost to patients and others for which doctors charge a ‘gap fee’ to offset unreimbursed costs.

The Federal Government increased its Medicare rebate in July by 65c to $39.75 for a standard GP consultation after freezing the rebate for six of the previous nine years.

Australia’s Royal College of GPs said the rebate should be $80 to keep pace with inflation and warned that such a small increase would further accelerate the loss of doctors from rural and regional Australia.

Toodyay Shire President Rosemary Madacsi, who is the WA Local Government Association’s Avon Zone representative, said she would raise Toodyay’s doctor crisis at the association’s next State Council meeting in Mandurah on September 8-9.

The shire was working on several fronts to find an alternative doctor for Toodyay but the responsibility belonged to State and Federal Government, not local government, she said.

Local State Labor MP Darren West agreed, saying Toodyay had a big enough population to sustain a local doctor service but he had a “fundamental issue” with local government being required to provide it.

It was costing shires like Goomalling hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

“It’s a Federal Government responsibility to provide doctors and the State’s responsibility to provide services,” he said.

Doctors were in short supply everywhere, and he would talk to the State Government’s WA Country Health Service and the shire about what could be done.

Local MP and WA Nationals Deputy Leader Shane Love said he would raise the issue with Federal Nationals Leader David Littleproud, Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie and other colleagues at this month’s WA Nationals State Conference.

He said it was untenable not to have a doctor in Toodyay, particularly with so many older residents needing access to a local GP and other medical services.

Other towns such as Dongara, Dalwallinu, Bindoon, Gingin and Three Springs all had doctors.

“This needs to be raised at a higher level of government but at the moment it’s been left to the shire,” Mr Love said.

Toodyay pharmacy co-owner Philip Carr said any GP closure in Toodyay would affect business but the pharmacy would stay open.

“Patients who see a GP in Northam still need to get their prescriptions filled, and many have repeat prescriptions,” he said.

Clinipath Pathology did not respond to Herald calls for comment.

The council voted 6-0 (Shire President Rosemary Madacsi and Cr McKeown absent) to adopt the increases after attending four months of budget workshops.

However, the shire was still waiting at the end of last month for State Government approval to strike a new mining rate to raise $200,000 to repair local roads damaged by mining trucks and other heavy equipment.

If the new rate is rejected, the shire says it will examine other ways to pay the shortfall.
The shire budget follows a 7.6 per cent increase in the national consumer price index to March, three bank mortgage rate increases since May and a Federal Government warning that inflation is likely to worsen.

These and other pressures – including the COVID-19 pandemic – have caused local house prices to soar and created a rental property shortage which has hit low-income Toodyay families with higher rents.

New shire fees include a 150 per cent increase from $200 to $500 for the Toodyay Theatre Group to use the shire-owned Memorial Hall – reportedly the group’s first rent increase for several years.

The Toodyay Football Club will pay 13 per cent more to use the Showground sports oval and pavilion with the fee rising from $750 to $847 a year, and the Toodyay Tennis Club will pay four per cent more, from $2750 to $3000 a year, to use new courts at the Toodyay Recreation Centre.

Tennis club use of shire-owned premises in Fiennes Street for which it pays a peppercorn rent expires next February.

The council has set a small operating surplus of $10,000 in its $14.4 million shire budget, with about half raised from rates and the rest from grants and other income.

The council budgeted for a similar small operating surplus last year and has not run an operating budget deficit since 2017-18.

As reported two months ago, minimum rates will remain the same as last year at $1351 per property, and the overall rates take will increase by 2.5 per cent, as set by the shire’s 10-year long term financial plan.

However, shire wages will increase 15 per cent to $4.3 million, which Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst said was due to staff award pay rises and the addition of a part-time communications officer and a depot trainee.

She said outside workers were paid under a separate enterprise bargaining agreement which was currently under review.

Toodyay’s wage costs were comparable with other similar shires at about 55-60 per cent of total rates revenue, with some other shires higher at about 70 per cent, Ms Haslehurst said.

Councillor sitting fees and allowances will rise by 17.4 per cent overall.

The new rate for a shire president is $4600 a month, the deputy gets $1940 and seven other councillors get $1270 each.

The pay rises are 15 per cent less than the top rate for shires the size of Toodyay and “acknowledges the significant commitment and voluntary service of elected members within their communities”, the shire said.

Land rates will be payable in full on October 12, with an option to spread payments across four quarterly instalments.

It faces a $30,000 debt for unpaid wages after discovering – along with other similar not-for-profit organisations elsewhere– that staff had been underpaid under the wrong industrial award for at least four years.

Permanent closure would cost the jobs of three current resource centre employees.
Manager Nicole Coleman said six staff had been underpaid, with a potential $64,000 fine for each award breach.

As The Herald went to press, Toodyay shire councillors were meeting to consider an urgent report from Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst on how to save the centre.

It is understood that one option may be for the centre to move from privately-owned rental space in Stirling Terrace to shire-owned premises elsewhere.

Toodyay Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said the council would consider all options to keep the centre open for continued use by the community.

The club pays a “peppercorn” rent to the Shire of Toodyay which owns the land occupied by the club building, bitumen car parks and two bowling greens, one of which is not used or maintained.

The club’s history dates back 117 years to when it started as a ‘gentleman’s club’ in Stirling House, now occupied by the Toodyay Spice and Grill restaurant.

THE TOODYAY CLUB also holds a liquor licence to sell beer, wine and spirits.
Bowlers have a separate 10-year agreement with the Toodyay Club to use the popular green for a $175 monthly fee.

It is understood the in-house agreement is due for renewal next year.
The Toodyay Club was originally established as a ‘Gentlemen’s Club’ in Stirling House – premises now occupied by Toodyay Spice and Grill restaurant in Stirling Terrace – and dates back 117 years.

A dining room at the rear of Stirling House contains eight marble floor inserts to support a full-sized billiard table, which is now located in the Toodyay Club’s games area in Oddfellow Street.

The historic table is thought to be one of only a few left in the Wheatbelt for a sport once popular among local ‘gentlemen’.

The Toodyay Club also has two pool tables, darts, a commercial kitchen and function area with tables and chairs which have been used for fund-raising events such as live music, birthday parties, Friday night dinners, wakes and other social gatherings.

It is understood the club found it had no option but to shut last month because the not-for-profit organisation was no longer able to pay bar staff and continuing debt, including power bills.

Most management committee members quit their elected roles last January, and the club president has also since resigned.

Several are understood to have urged the club to shut earlier this year because debts could not be paid, and “walked away” when others decided to keep it open.

“None of us wanted to see this happen but there was no other choice,” one prominent former committee member said.

“We need to find new ways to reopen the doors and keep going.”

“We also need to ensure our town continues to have a suitable venue for local bowlers and visiting bowling club members who spend their money in our town when they come here for tournaments.”

Saturday’s meeting is open to all Toodyay Club members and supporters.

It will include a call for those present to offer suggestions from the floor about how the club can pay off debt and resume trading.

The council was already operating with only eight members for much of last year because former Cr Bell was absent from most monthly council meetings, all committee meetings and most shire agenda briefings.

The shire received WA Government permission in March to leave his vacant seat empty until the next state-wide local government elections, due in October 2023.

The State Government announced last month that proposed new local government laws would cut shires the size of Toodyay to five, six or seven elected members.

The shire opposed an earlier State plan to reduce shires with less than 5000 electors – Toodyay had 3256 at last year’s elections – to five councillors.

It said five local councillors were too few to ensure adequate representation and efficient council operation.

Cutting the number of councillors from nine to seven would reduce the cost of shire elections and save ratepayers a total of $32,000 a year in sitting fees and allowances.

A shire discussion paper said there was a statewide trend towards smaller councils, particularly in smaller shires “with many finding that fewer elected members has improved their decision-making process”.

Disadvantages might include “a potential for dominance in the council by a particular group or a limited diversity of interests around the council table”.

It might also increase councillor workloads and reduce their effectiveness and efficiency.

The shire has advertised the proposal on Page 15, with public submissions closing on Friday September 30.

The agency says the efficiency of Wheatbelt supply chains are “determined by the performance of the weakest link”.

“Failure to maintain and improve productivity of the secondary freight network will reduce the international competitiveness of the Wheatbelt agricultural sector, which underpins employment and economic activity in the region,” it said.

“Transport links need to be improved if the productivity of this sector is to be supported.”

The shire says it will continue to press the issue with State ministers.